Tartan

How do you describe a tartan?

I am often asked, “What does the tartan for my clan look like?” or much worse, “I have this piece of tartan, it has red, blue, green and white in it. Which Clan is it?”

There is a technical specification for all Clan tartans, in the form of weaver’s stick. This is a piece of wood with the threads of the tartan pattern wrapped around it. One can count the threads of the pattern and verify, or otherwise the pattern of a particular set. It could read as, e.g. 4 blue, seven red, eight red, four blue three black four blue, 10 green four blue. As the pattern of a tartan is the same up and down as it is across, the weaver can work to this simple specification to weave the tartan.

Most Clan tartans are not a long-term link to your bloodline. Although tartans have been worn in Scotland for many centuries, the modern Clan tartans were mainly designed during the Victorian era.

Scottish Clan Crests however were often designed almost a thousand years ago and are a very tangible link with your bloodline and heritage.